


Brightness and Shadows

by yastaghr



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Help, How Do I Tag, Post-Undertale Neutral Route, Post-Undertale Neutral Route - King Mettaton Ending, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-25
Updated: 2020-04-25
Packaged: 2021-03-02 04:21:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,391
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23839027
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yastaghr/pseuds/yastaghr
Summary: After reading Possession, I couldn't get out of my head images of how Napstablook interacted with Sans and Papyrus in past runs. Here are some of the resulting scenes.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 18





	Brightness and Shadows

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Possession](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13200438) by [Mercy_Run](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mercy_Run/pseuds/Mercy_Run). 



This ending was always the hardest on Sans. He hated losing Papyrus; every time it hurt like the first. Whenever his brother died, Sans would slowly dwindle away. What was the point of living if Pap was gone?

But this ending was the worst. Even the genocide ending was better; then, he died fairly fast. Living with Undyne wasn’t hard; she shared the same agony he did. So did Alphys during the times she ended up in charge. The dogs were always so empathetic, and Toriel kept him distracted.

No, dealing with Mettaton without his brother to act as a buffer was the pits. Sans was glad for any break from the egomaniac, so when Metta asked idly if Sans, his agent, had heard anything from his cousin Napstablook, Sans jumped at the opportunity. Not literally, of course. 

Now he was in the damp confines of Waterfall doing what he did best: nothing. Well, he was watching for Napstablook’s return from the dump, but compared to what MTT usually had him doing, this was a cakewalk. The hardest part was staying awake. He was so tired of this ending, of this suit, of Mettaton, and of not having his brother there to light his world. He just wanted to sleep.

“oh……..they’re asleep. but i need to get past………...oh no.”

Sans slowly blinked open his eye sockets. Someone was talking to him. He wanted to close his eyes again, oh stars how he wanted to sleep. But if someone was talking to him then he had to get up. What if it was Papyrus? He needed to wake up for just a bit longer, then he could sleep.

“what’s up buddy?”

“you’re awake………..oh. i want to get past…..i didn’t mean to wake you…..oh no……………”

The speech pattern was almost familiar to Sans and when he turned his head he recognised who it was. Napstablook was hovering a few feet away from him. He was fading fast. 

Sans spoke fast, “nah, it’s cool buddy. i was actually kinda looking for you. you’re napstablook, right?”

The ghost stopped fading and answered, “um, yeah……..i’m napstablook……….”

The awkward silence quickly got on Sans’ nerves. He took a few deep breaths and said, “would you mind if we stepped inside? the king wanted me to check up on you, but i wouldn’t mind taking a bit of a break.”

“sure…….you can follow me….if you want…..you don’t have to…………” 

Napstablook almost faded from embarrassment. They remained just visible enough for Sans to follow behind them towards the twin houses. One he knew to be Mettaton’s old home. The other was where the ghost led him.

Inside, Sans saw a spartan room that reminded him of his own. There was no bed, oddly enough, but there was a computer desk and a fridge. There were also a handful of cds.

“you some kind of musician, bud?” Sans asked, knowing full well from Mettaton’s interminable lecture that Napstablook was indeed so. 

“oh. yeah…...would you like to hear something?” 

Sans requested, “this one here- spook wave, is it? can we listen to that?” 

Napstablook set it to play instead of answering. A modulated but still simple song followed. Sans could see the appeal. It was much less obnoxious than MTT’s efforts. He was so entranced that he only realized that any time had passed when the cavern darkened in their faux night.

“i kept you so late……” Napstablook said, “……..oh no…….would you like to stay the night?”

Sans nodded. He wanted to sleep. His energy hadn’t improved since that little nap earlier. 

“........would you like something to eat?”

Sans shook his head. He hadn’t had much of an appetite lately.

“oh………...okay...i probably shouldn’t eat then…..”

Sans waved his hands, “no, no, go ahead and eat. i was testing meal packs for Mettaton this morning.” 

He hadn’t had a choice. Anyway, the packs had tasted like sawdust and felt like packing peanuts in his mouth. Even the hot dog one made with his recipe tasted flat. He'd had to drop out of the decision making process, which MTT had liked just fine.

“alright……” Napstablook said. He floated over to the fridge and opened it. Sans couldn’t see anything inside, but the ghost pulled something out. Maybe it was a ghost sandwich? That sounded right. Papyrus had tried to make spaghetti noodles out of bones once. He’d said it was out of a book. It hadn’t worked. That was the crunchiest meal Sans had ever eaten.

“after a great meal i like to lie on the ground and feel like garbage…...it's a family tradition…would you like to join me?” Napstablook asked. 

Sans hesitated. That did sound like a good time, apart from the ‘feel like garbage’ bit. He decided to say, “sure.”

Sans laid down, facing the ceiling. It was plain, just the underside of a wooden ceiling. He wondered if up there was where Napstablook’s bed was. Or maybe it was just storage? What would a ghost’s bed look like, anyway? Did they even need to sleep, or were they like Papyrus? Mettaton didn’t sleep. He just worked on scripts while his body was stuck charging against a wall. The cord wasn’t all that long, and Sans hadn’t yet found an extension cord that still worked. 

Napstablook joined him on the ground and said, “here we go…….you’ll lie down as long as you don’t move.”

Sans could feel himself drifting again. He was just so tired. Just breathing felt like it took too much energy. Napstablook had said he could stay the night, right? He probably wouldn’t mind if Sans fell asleep. Sans let himself slowly drift away. 

* * *

Living with Toriel wasn’t too bad, Papyrus decided. He got to enthuse about all the puzzles. There were so many of them, and so different, too. Rock puzzles and spike mazes and pit traps - so many new techniques! And Toriel was going to let him put a new puzzle into one really long hallway of a room. He couldn’t wait!

He was actually on his way to scout out that hallway when he fell into one of the pit traps. Papyrus pulled himself to his feet and looked around. Some of the Vegetoids liked to lurk down here. He didn’t want to have squished one of them. 

Instead of one of the carrot-shaped monsters, Papyrus found himself face to face with a ghost.

“OH NO! I’M SORRY TO HAVE FALLEN ON YOU. ARE YOU OKAY?”

The ghost blinked at him. Then they said, “i’m fine………..you feel so happy.” He sounded completely surprised, but in a good way.

Papyrus preened. An invisible wind picked up and floated his cape behind him. The ghost watched him with an open mouth. 

“OF COURSE I AM! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, AM MORE THAN HAPPY TO BE LIVING HERE. THE PUZZLES ARE AMAZING! THE PEOPLE ARE NICE. THE FOOD IS WONDERFUL! IN FACT, SINCE IT IS ALMOST DINNER, I MUST INSIST YOU JOIN US! THERE ARE SNAILS AND PIES! COME!”

Papyrus reached over to his new friend in search of a hand to hold. None was available. He stepped back, reassessing the situation.

“are you sure you want to invite me?..........i’m not the most lively of company.”

Papyrus narrowed his eye sockets. “WAS THAT A PUN?”

Napstablook's eye circles blew out. Papyrus could see the internal debate and decided to end it. “WELL, I SUPPOSE IT DOESN’T MATTER. IT WAS A GOOD PUN, INTENTIONAL OR NOT. AND I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, AM A MOST SINCERE CONNOISSEUR OF PUNS.”

The quiet little chuckle startled him. Papyrus turned to see that it was, indeed, his new ghost friend who was making the sound. 

“heh…...you can still be so bright…when out there it’s despair…...i don’t want to leave you.”

“THEN DON’T,” Papyrus said impetuously. “I AM SURE THAT MISS TORIEL WILL NOT MIND ANOTHER HOUSE GUEST. COME JOIN US!”

A moment passed by in contemplative silence. Then the ghost said, “.....alright…...if you’re sure i won’t be a bother……...i’ll come.”

Papyrus’ face absolutely lit up. He spun happily a few times before trotting in the vague vicinity of the floor back to the house. “MARVELOUS! I CAN’T WAIT TO SHOW YOU THE TREE AND ITS LEAVES! DID YOU KNOW THAT...”

**Author's Note:**

> You can find me on:
> 
> Pillowfort - https://www.pillowfort.social/Yastaghr  
> Tumblr - https://yastaghr.tumblr.com  
> Twitter - https://twitter.com/yastaghr


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